


2AM Talks Are A Form Of Family Bonding

by Artsy_LaVerne



Category: Rocko's Modern Life, Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling
Genre: Ed is trying his best, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, No Deadnaming, Post Static Cling, Post-Canon, Rachel has done some self reflecting, Still working on learning the lesson of the special, Stress about the future, Trans Female Character, no misgendering, so is rachel, third person omnipresent but Ed has a lot of internal monologue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-01 04:05:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20251882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Artsy_LaVerne/pseuds/Artsy_LaVerne
Summary: "At some point on her journey to find herself, Rachel had become wise, in a way."In which Rachel and her father talk about stress.I noticed that there weren't any fics in this archive uploaded after Static Cling aired on Netflix. Decided I should fix that with a story I wrote in the middle of the night. Hope you enjoy.





	2AM Talks Are A Form Of Family Bonding

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not much of a writer, but Static Cling was really inspiring. I wanted to write something Rachel-centric, but honestly I think this ended up just becoming more Ed-centric. Oh well, he grew a lot as a character in the special, lol. Gave me some hope for him. Hope you guys like this!

The whole entire purpose of this trip, aside from giving the contractors he'd hired time to rebuild their house from scratch, was to be a family again. It was almost surprising how unanimously they'd agreed that they needed this, bickering had become something of a staple in the Bighead household, but as Ed was doing his best to accept the changes life threw at him, he realized that surprises were becoming less... well, surprising.

They had only been on the road for a few weeks, and it was likely they wouldn't be sleeping anywhere that wasn't on wheels and stocked with ice creme for at least a year, but he thinks he's looking forward to it. These past few weeks had left his family the closest they've ever been since Rachel's senior year of high school. Oh, before she went off to that fancy, _expensive_ art college of hers. The only reason Ed had been willing to pay for that in the first place was because he thought he was going to get a return on his investment, once Rachel got it all out of her system and was ready to join the corporate world like every other self-respecting adult.

Hm. He supposed, in a way, that he did end up getting his return in the end. Though he noted that she still took the occasional pride in pissing him off. Maybe that's just what children are meant to do.

Presently, they were parked on the outskirts of some small town that he hadn't bothered to learn the name of for the night. His wife and daughter were sound asleep inside the truck, and he knew he should be, too. But instead, Ed was sat in the front doorway, ruminating. This year was going to test him a lot more than anything his daughter had put him through. He would be with his family, yes, and they'd have an income that would get them by while they meandered around without a home, but that left him with a problem he had to solve: then what? How could he not think about the fact that he had witnessed the very building he spent his days (weeks, months, years) working at be shot into space, along with the man who signed his paychecks? Conglom-O had owned most of the businesses in O-Town, and was in the process of buying out several other businesses that were beginning to cave to its competition. Where did that leave his career choices? What would be left for him to do in order to keep a roof over his family's heads? As if their current lack of roof weren't already his fault to begin with...

Ed's spiraling thoughts were interrupted by the sound of slippers along the truck's floor. Light steps. Ah. His daughter was awake.

He had already begun to stand when he felt a gentle tapping on his shoulder, "Dad? You okay?" He knew she knew he wasn't, they were a lot more similar than either of them would ever be willing to admit, and stubbornly refusing to acknowledge when they had a problem they couldn't blame on someone else was an unfortunate flaw they shared.

"Fine, I'm fine. Just needed some fresh air."

"Hm, mind if I join you?"

"Yeah-- er, go ahead and sit," Ed moved to lean against the front tire of the truck, sitting on the ground, so Rachel could sit in the doorway.

They stayed quiet, comfortably so, for a few minutes, staring up at an unpolluted night sky and taking in the ambiance. It was amazing how easy it was to forgive family for past misgivings, years ago they wouldn't be seen in the same room together, and even later on, there were moments where the tension between them became hard to bare. But things were different now, things had changed.

And things were still changing, "We've got a problem, Rache," oof, 'Rache'? That sounded a little too casual, not authoritative enough. Ed was still figuring out nicknames and other ways to address his child that weren't, well, wrong.

Rachel turned to look at her father, running her hands though her hair and waking up a little more at the prospect of having to be open and communicative, face-to-face. It was one thing to speak through your art, she didn't know if she could be just as eloquent when put on the spot.

Regardless, she'd have to do her best, "A problem?"

"Yes, a big problem. When we get back home, we need to figure out just what we're gonna do with our lives!"

Ow. She honestly wasn't expecting that, "...we?"

Ed paused, realizing just what he said and how he said it. He could easily double down, and make them share the burden, but that wouldn't be... right. And he hadn't done a lot of right by his daughter throughout her life. Reluctantly, he back-pedaled, "... I do. I have to figure out what I'm gonna do with my life. Being your father saved my ass at Conglom-O, but now Conglom-O's... gone. I still lost my job, in the end, and without a job we won't be able to keep the house for very long, but there aren't many options left in O-Town, now," he should stop there. He hadn't even meant to share his worries tonight, but it's probably for the best that he rip the band-aid off and get his family thinking about this, too. He'd have to talk with Bev in the morning.

Rachel sat on this for a bit, taking in the hopelessness of her father's words, and the surprising amount of responsibility and vulnerability he was displaying. Oh, this was going to take some getting used to. She felt uneasy from all this honesty. That being said, she understood his predicament, and she could quell it.

"I don't see what the point in worrying yourself right now is."

Ed was silent, mouth agape, and probably offended, so Rachel knew she better elaborate further, "Think of it this way, Dad. While we're out here spending time together, the Conglom-O building and Mr. Dupette could fall from the sky and everything could be back to normal by the time we get back. Or, that could happen, but before we get back, Conglom-O could spontaneously go out of business and we'd return to the town we left. Or, some other mega-corporation could inevitably shoehorn their way into O-Town to take Conglom-O's place, and we'd come back to someplace unfamiliar, though, if you ask me, there's not much difference from one mega-corporation to another," she was getting off track, and probably losing him, best move on, "my point is, you're spending time and energy on a problem you aren't even sure exists, yet. Anything can happen between now and whatever's ahead of us, and learning to let go of the past is only the first step in the right direction. Thinking only about the 'could-be's' takes away from the 'are happenings'."

Rachel took a deep breath, and sighed, turning away from Ed to stare nostalgically into the distance, "I know it sounds obvious, or maybe like a cheap piece of advice from a fortune cookie, but it's true that only thinking about the future doesn't make you happy... when I first managed to get my own show in Hollo-wood, I had a hard time focusing on whatever project I was currently working on... my mind was always two or three projects ahead, pushing me to get 'this' done so I could work on 'that', instead. But by the time I got to those projects, my mind was ahead of me, again, and ideas and concepts that were once exciting were now part of the daily grind that I had to get over and done with in order to move on to the more appealing ideas later. I couldn't keep up with myself, and it made the whole process of creating something feel more like a chore. I can't make something I'm proud of like that. I had to figure out how to stop hyper-focusing on what would come after a project and start making an effort to rekindle the interest I had in the project itself by reminding myself why I found the concept so interesting in the first place. Sometimes just stopping and thinking can change your perspective entirely. Maybe if you pause to remind yourself that there's nothing you can say or do about O-Town that will matter until we get there, you'll be able to enjoy the time we're spending together even more..."

Oh. He had only just begun to start focusing on the present by reminding himself that the past is in the past. He didn't realize that the future could be just as distracting.

Ed stared in awe at his daughter, with a rather foreign pang of pride. At some point on her journey to find herself, Rachel had become wise, in a way. She really had become a self-respecting adult, and Ed wasn't sure how to feel about that. It was definitely what he had been demanding of her, all these years, but it was unrecognizable to the visions he originally had for his child.

Rachel beamed at her father, to his dismay she seemed to notice him struggling to come up with a proper response.

"It's funny, usually _you're_ the one giving unsolicited advice on how to live life, not me."

He slumped a little where he sat. They say being sleep deprived and being drunk are mostly the same, and the current hour was not helping Ed keep any secrets, "I hate to admit it, but it's good advice. You're right. I don't have to think about O-Town or anyone in it right now, and I don't want to. I just want to be with you and your mother."

A smirk grew on her face, and he winced a little when he realized she could easily press him further on the fact that, for once in their lives, he had told his daughter she was right. She didn't, though. Maybe she felt that he had enough weighing on him tonight.

Rachel swung her feet idly, "I wanna spend time with you guys, too. I'm glad we are. Everything feels like it's finally coming together nicely, and I really am a lot happier than I think I've ever been."

"Hm," Ed should chance it, though it wasn't a subject that came naturally to him. To be completely fair, most subjects pertaining to his daughter didn't come naturally to him, "and part of that is because--"

"Yes, Dad," Rachel chuckled, "yes, that's a big reason why I'm a lot happier. It's freeing to find out that the lingering unhappiness in your life was really just a solvable problem all along. For the longest time I considered the idea that there was just something wrong with me."

"I'm.... happy you're happy, too. I know I haven't been as vocal about it as your mother has been, but I really am. Even if it took me too long to accept it."

His daughter hummed in response, and their conversation dissolved back into comfortable silence. It wasn't long before he broke it, again, though.

"I know we shouldn't dwell on the future, but what do you plan on doing when we get back to O-Town?"

She just smiled and shrugged, "I'll probably keep selling ice creme, and do a little drawing on the side, without all the studio executives breathing down my neck. We're living in a pretty good time to get independent work done. Besides, TV's dying, anyway," maybe she'd tell her parents about the still life, later, but not now.

"Hmph, you won't make a lot of money when kids are your only clientele."

"You'd be surprised how many adults still get excited over a passing ice creme truck"

"Right, I almost forgot how much of your generation is comprised of complete man-children. And uh... woman-children."

Rachel quirked a brow, appreciating the irony of her father's inclusive insult. Progress was progress, she supposed.

"I guess growing up is just a lot harder than anyone realizes it is. Some people just don't know what to let go of and what to hold on to. I don't think you're ever too old for ice creme, though."

They both chuckled this time. Wow, it has been a while since Ed had laughed at something that wasn't heavily laced with schadenfreude. It was nicer than he remembered.

Rachel stood, offering her father a hand to help him get back on his feet, "let's get back to sleep, we're pretty close to a city I think you and Mom will like. I'd like to show you around tomorrow, or, I guess that'd be later today," with a tired smile, she retired back into the truck, and Ed followed, sleeping a lot easier for the remainder of the night.


End file.
